The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, on the stage of the plains of Abraham in 2015.
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July 9, 2020
Updated on July 11, 2020 4h22
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Three magical moments at the Festival d’été de Québec
Geneviève Bouchard
The Sun
In normal times, the music lovers have converged on the plains of Abraham at the end of the week to reconnect with Imagine Dragons, whose performance was interrupted by the storm last year, and Jack Johnson. It was without counting on the pandemic COVID-19, came to rocking the boat, causing the cancellation of the main events of summer, including the Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ). While the Plains and other sites in the FEQ will be deprived of music this year, the director-general of the event, Anne Hudon, and his programming director, Louis Bellavance, have thrown an eye in the rear view mirror to focus on three of their favourites in the last few years.
The Rolling Stones, July 15, 2015
There were people on the Plains to host the Rolling Stones in 2015. A lot of people. “We were not strong on the social distancing that evening, watches Louis Bellavance. It does not circulate, it became uncomfortable. But this was quite a moment.”
The programmer advance without discomfort, the Stones did “not high” on his list of priorities at this time. If he describes himself as a big fan, he was not in a hurry to bring the band of Mick Jagger in the capital. “I have seen them in the show very often,” he says. But at a time in the early 2000s, I have seen them and I promised myself that this was the last time. 10 shows, it was two disappointments on three of them. To be Keith [Richards] was not there, or [Mick] Jagger was in the air in exasperation. There were good nights and bad nights. I said to myself : “do you not like it, you love them too.” I didn’t run to the Stones.”
In 2015, the FEQ has nevertheless increased its programming budget to be able to welcome the tour and Zip Code of the grandfathers of the rock. “These old bands have cycles, resumes Louis Bellavance. There are periods where they are in good shape. Sometimes, they will create new and interesting material and you will see that it is past something. Maybe you was tired of them, and you realize that there is still gas in there. But at times, the tank is empty. It is a hit-and-miss, you don’t know what you’re going to have.”
In this July evening, on the big stage of the Plains, the bet has been paying for the FEQ. “This tour was relatively good for the Stones, watches Louis Bellavance. They have had good nights and not so good. But that night, they were imperial. As soon as the first chords, they were there. That evening, we had one of the best shows of the Stones that I’ve seen. And it was ours. It was here.”
The singer Pink for the FEQ in 2017
Library Of The Sun, Erick Labbé
P!nk, July 8, 2017
A fearsome machine pop, the high-wire act ever seen on the plains of Abraham, bracelets, bright to include fans in the show and a crowd monster coming to take part in the festival. If P!nk had made them a little more discreet before his stint in the capital in 2017, let’s say, she has not missed the target on the big stage in the FEQ.
“I negotiated it directly with England, says Louis Bellavance. She was represented there, it was not in the us circuit. We do not see much. There, she had a big return, but at this time, it came out of a period of maternity leave. It wasn’t bad at missing of the radar. For me, it was a master-stroke to hear : “how did you booked P!nk in the festival with the set-up she is doing in arenas? ” It was not in the festival, but they arrived ahead in order to adapt it. They were open to all, they allowed us to shoot all we wanted.”
“At this moment, in the pop, there was still in the dropper,” says the director of programming. It had been Lady Gaga, but of the superstars of the pop, we had not received a lot. Many keep this in mind as a great moment.”
Imagine Dragons has created the event with only two songs delivered in the storm in 2019.
Library The Sun, Pascal Ratthé
Imagine Dragons, July 13, 2019
Two little songs (Believer and It’s Time), that’s all the fans of Imagine Dragons have been able to be put in the tooth before the plains of Abraham are discharged in a violent thunderstorm on July 13, 2019. It was always the damned : festival-goers would not have had any if the group, confronted with the weather forecast catastrophic, had not ahead of his delivery of 15 minutes to at least say a quick hello.
“This moment made me freak out, lance, Anne Hudon. It could not take place. The energy that has been deployed by the team back, the relationship we had developed with the artists, their generosity to the public… All of that happened in five minutes. It has been a stevedore, a kind of meeting point. There was all this professionalism and generosity which have made it so that these two songs have been memorable for lots of people.”
According to Anne Hudon, nothing would have been able to reduce, and Imagine Dragons to silence.
“If there had been one or two grains of sand in the gears, we would not have had these two tunes-there, ahead-t-it. It all happened so quickly, everyone pushed in the same direction. It has been spectacular.”
The american group had to take revenge this summer on the Plains. Once again, no luck. Never two without three?
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